Chipped and brittle nails are making your hands look ugly? Blame the 20-minute hand wash routine that you take up so often amid round-the-clock work from home in the lockdown.
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And it’s not just work from home, it’s also a great deal of work at home. In between those Zoom sessions, you have to run to the kitchen for cooking and wash dishes in the absence of a house help. To top it, you binge eat unhealthy snacks to pacify your work-related and pandemic anxiety.
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This has your body robbed of essential nutrients and has a direct effect on your nail health as well. We have some quick homecare ideas and you can nail them too.
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Clean them: Do you love digging your hand into greasy delicious food and relishing them? Who doesn’t? But remember to wash your hands especially the nails properly after each such meal to get rid of the haldi stain.
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Be gentle: Don’t use all your might while you try a pedicure at home. The scrubbing should be done gently. Avoid using sharp metal tools and put too much pressure to clean under your nails. It may cause the nail plate to separate from the skin, leaving chances of fungal infection.
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Trim regularly: Trimming your nails every fortnight is as important as trimming your hair every one and a half month. Also, don’t forget to clip and gently file them. For both your fingernails and toenails, trim them right after showering when they are softer. Make sure you cut them straight across. Also, file the corners round.
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Push cuticles: Trying to cut your cuticles is a big mistake. They prevent germs from entering and infecting nails. No matter how outgrown they are just push them back with a blunt-edged nail file.
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Moisture well: Once done with the cleaning and shaping, make it a point to moisturise your hands, especially the nails, properly.
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Tips for healthy nails: Stay hydrated, pay attention to your diet, be careful about products you use, don’t use your nails to pop cans, give your nails a break from polish at times, use a base coat, keep your nails short, check if nail plates are healthy pinkish-white in colour, keep nails clean and dry always, stock up on your protein intake, wear gloves for dishwashing.
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